Ensure burden of fee hike not passed on to students, CBSE urges Delhi government

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has reached out to Delhi government officials, urging them to ensure that the burden of the hike in examination fees is not passed on to students.

The CBSE last week notified an increase in the examination fees for Classes 10 and 12, registration fees for Classes 9 and 11 and migration fees.

The fees for general category students for Classes 10 and 12 were doubled from Rs 750 to Rs 1,500 for five subjects.

The Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) students, who were paying Rs 375 earlier, will now pay Rs 1,200 for five subjects. Under a special arrangement in the national capital, these students were only paying Rs 50, while the Delhi government was paying the rest of the amount as subsidy. According to the revised norms, the SC/ST students are now required to pay the entire amount to the CBSE.

"We have requested Delhi government officials to see what can be done to ensure that the burden of the hike in the examination fees is not passed on to students. We have suggested if the government can reimburse the students and the issue is being looked into," CBSE Secretary Anurag Tripathi said.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday said he had directed the education department to work out a formula so that the students did not have to bear the burden of the increased fees.

Noting that the Delhi government was the biggest stakeholder of the CBSE, Sisodia said if things continued like this, the government might consider having its own board.

"We have been asked to work on a proposal to ensure that the Delhi government can ease the burden on students from reserved categories as well as from the general category," an official of the Directorate of Education (DoE) said.